Burberry's Creative Head Christopher Bailey to Leave Fashion House -- 2nd Update
31 Outubro 2017 - 10:10AM
Dow Jones News
By Saabira Chaudhuri
LONDON -- Burberry Group PLC's creative head and former Chief
Executive Christopher Bailey is leaving the British fashion house,
after a tumultuous few years that forced him to relinquish the CEO
role last year.
Mr. Bailey will step down from the board at the end of March,
ending his career as Burberry's chief creative officer. In a
stock-market filing the company said Mr. Bailey would support CEO
Marco Gobbetti through the end of the year.
A Burberry spokesman said the decision to leave was Mr.
Bailey's, citing his length tenure at the label, and that
Burberry's search for a new creative head begins now.
Shares in company fell 2% on the news.
Mr. Bailey weathered sharp criticism and a deep stock decline
during his two years as CEO, which ended with Mr. Gobbetti's
appointment as Burberry's new head last year. Mr. Gobbetti, who
previously worked as CEO of Celine -- the influential fashion and
accessories brand owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE --
took the reins this year amid investor appetite for a
turnaround.
Under Mr. Bailey, Burberry's sales were hammered for several
quarters in key markets such as Greater China and the U.S. While
sales have improved in China lately, the U.S. has remained a
stubborn thorn in Burberry's side with the brand unable to compete
with more coveted labels such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci.
Executives in the luxury industry have long maintained that
luxury houses live and die by their creative vision and replacing
Mr. Bailey could allow Burberry to spark a revival.
Mr. Bailey's designs have failed to wow customers in recent
years, said Exane BNP Paribas Luca Solca, who has long maintained
that the company needs new creative vision to get its mojo
back.
"We believe this is a necessary move to make Burberry exciting
again," said Mr. Solca. "Most brands that have gone through a
revival had to first find new creative resources."
Rival Gucci has grown strongly of late under its creative
director Alessandro Michele, who was named to the job in 2015.
Since then, Mr. Michele has revamped the brand with a mix of
extravagant prints, and retro flourishes such as embroidery. His
designs have earned praise from critics and drawn droves of
customers back to a brand that had fallen out of fashion.
When poached from Gucci at the age of 30 to be Burberry's design
director Mr. Bailey was a little known figure in the industry. But
he quickly rocketed into the spotlight and over time garnered a
reputation for turning Burberry from a fusty British trench coat
maker into a cutting-edge luxury powerhouse known the world
over.
In 2014, the 161-year-old company elevated Mr. Bailey to CEO
while allowing him to keep his old job as creative director, a
split role that's extremely rare among big luxury-design
houses.
The timing was bad, with currency moves in Greater China
encouraging Chinese shoppers to spend money abroad rather than at
home, and a slump in tourism from the mainland to Hong Kong after
protests there and visa restrictions for Chinese visitors. In the
U.S., a strong dollar capped tourist spending and Mr. Bailey
continued to grapple with how to burnish Burberry brand, which has
long been at the mercy of big department stores that regularly
discount its clothes.
In response, he tried to buoy sales by simplifying Burberry's
trench coat range, expanding scarf colors and offering the option
to monogram products among other moves. He also cut costs through
measures like not replacing staff when they leave and slashing
travel budgets. But investors criticized the moves as not going far
enough.
Now under Mr. Gobbetti -- a seasoned luxury executive with a
business background -- investors are looking for Burberry to
jump-start sales. So far, he's returned Burberry's beauty business
to a licensing arrangement, a move investors have cheered, and
indicated that Burberry will cut back on wholesale agreements,
which have often limited its ability to control price and
positioning, damaging the brand. More detail is expected next month
when Burberry reports half-year sales.
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 31, 2017 07:55 ET (11:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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